Improvement in the manufacture of felted yarns



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. BLOODGOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND MOSES A. JOHNSON, or

' LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED YARNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,367, dated August15, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN H. BLOODGOOD, of the city and State of NewYork, and MOSES A. JOHNSON, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex andState of Massachusetts, have in.-

vented a new and useful Improvement in Felted Yarns, the same being anew article of manufacture; and we do hereby declare that the followingis a full and exact description thereof.

Yarn or thread composed of wool, hair, or other fibrous materialscapable of being felted has heretofore been made, the process or art ofproducing the same being full y set forth in Letters Patent of theUnited States granted to us jointly and severally as hereinafter statedviz., to John H. Bloodgood on the 5th day of April, 1853, to Moses A.Johnson on the 6th day of May, 1856, to Bloodgood and Johnson on the 6thday of March, 1860, and to Bloodgood and Johnson on the 15th day ofNovember, 1864.

The process or art set forth in the patents above referred to is basedon the well-known property of wool, hair, and certain other substanceswhich have naturally a hooked or barbed fiber to become felted or mattedtogether when subjected to moisture, heat, and friction, the generaloutline Or main feature of the process being the passagefrom one bobbinto another ofa sliver or fillet of wool, and during such passageapplying to it moisture, heat,

and friction, by means of which the thin and ribbon-shaped fiber becomesrounded or cylindrical and formed into a perfect yarn or thread, whichis without twist and is suitable for making cloth, knit goods, or otherfabrics.

Substance having a smooth exterior, such as cotton, flux, China grass,jute, &o., cannot be made into yarn or thread by the process of felting,those substances only which have hooked or barbed fibers being suitablefor this mode of treatment.

We have found by experiment that one-half, or even alarger portion, ofnon-felting fibersuch as cotton,flax, jute, and hemp-can be mixed withwool or other fiber capable of being felted, and that when submitted tomoisture, heat, and friction the barbed or felting fiber will so embraceand inclose the smooth or non-felting fiber that a perfect, strong, and

even thread is produced, having for many purposes a greater valuethanyarn or thread made entirely tf a felting substance or material. Forinstance, when the sliverof which the yarn is to be made is composed ofwool and flax the short and barbed fibers of the wool as they cling toeach other inclose and entwine beare felted together by the process setforth in the patents hereinbefore referred to, or by the use of heat,moisture, and friction applied to them in any equivalent manner, thefelting fiber predominates in the outer layers of the yarn, while theinner part or core of the yarn contains the most of the non-feltingfiber.

Cloth or fabrics made of this yarn show a predominating woolen surface,while at the same time the comparatively long fibers in the inside ofthe thread or yarn have greater strengththan if composed exclusively ofwool. We prefer to have the flax or other fiber well picked andseparated before mixing it with the wool; but we do not claim anyparticular mode of mixing or carding the same, as the invention hereinset forth relates exclusively to the formation of a feltedcomposite-thread or yarn, which thread or yarn is made from a sliver orroving previously prepared from felt- V ing and non-felting fibrousmaterials.

What we claim, and desire to secure by Let ters' Patent, is-

A felted thread or yarn composed of felting and non-felting materials,the same being a new article of manufacture.

JNO. H. BLOODGOOD. [L.S.] MOSES A. JOHNSON. a s.]

Witnesses to signature of J. H. Bloodgood:

F. W. BLOODGOOD, WILLIAM H. FIELD.

Witnesses to signature of M. A. Johnson:

H. DENNETT, HORACE B. SHATTUOK.

